


Lunch Break

by dustandroses



Series: The Hunter and the Hunted [1]
Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Backstory, Canon Characters of Color, Community: tamingthemuse, Female Character of Color, Ficlet, Gen, Gen Fic, Male Character of Color, Post canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 09:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustandroses/pseuds/dustandroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Andrea practically danced around the room, and Ray laughed at her buoyant mood.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunch Break

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt Notes:** Inspiration for this chapter taken from the Live Journal community Tamingthemuse prompt #371: Gilded Cage  
>  **Notes:** Takes place in August of 2005, two years after the series ends.  
>  I've always wished they'd done more with Andrea Phelan's character. But Tom Fontana didn't, so I had to do it myself. Since so little is known of her, pretty much everything about her character is mine aside from her husband and children.  
> This short story can be taken on its own, or read as backstory on Andrea's character for my Oz Big Bang story, "The Hunter and the Hunted," which you can find a link to above in the header. You'll see more of her then.  
> 

The coffee sizzled as it hit the warmer plate. Ray quickly poured his cup and replaced the pot, then sat down at a table, files in hand, to do some reading before his first appointment of the afternoon. Jerking back in shock, he came close to burning himself on his coffee at the loud shout from the breakroom door.

“Hey, Padre! How are you?” Andrea Phelan practically danced around the room, and Ray laughed at her buoyant mood. She threw her lunch bag down on the table before swaying over to the coffeemaker to grab a cup of coffee, singing some silly 80s song that he couldn’t quite place.

He set down his file with a sigh. Andrea was more important. She worked hard, trying to make ends meet, trying to mend the rocky relationship with her husband, who’d been laid off months ago with no job in sight. His unemployment checks were about to run out, and she had three growing children to feed and clothe, and rent to pay, and car payments, insurance, utilities...the list was never ending. She’d looked more and more down every time he’d seen her for months now. He was delighted to see her so happy.

“What in the world has got you in such a good mood?”

She stopped mid strut and grinned at him, her eyes sparkling with joy. “Just when you think things will never change, like…” she snapped her fingers, “- _that_ – your whole world can be turned upsidedown.” 

She grabbed her mug of coffee off the counter, and sat down at the table across from Ray. She looked around melodramatically, suspiciously checking under the table before she leaned close to whisper. 

“Can I trust you with a secret?” 

Leaning back in her chair, she rolled her eyes. “What am I saying, you’ve got that whole secrecy thing going, right? You can’t tell anyone _anything_ I say, can you?”

Sighing, Ray tried, yet again, to explain the misunderstanding so many people took for granted. “As a matter of fact, that only works for confession, but…”

Jumping to her feet, Andrea headed back to the counter, “Well, bless me Father, for I have sinned!” She plopped back down in her chair, throwing creamer cups and packs of sugar on the table. “Is that enough? Because if you want, I can tell you what Jerome and I got up to a couple of nights ago, in our quest for the ultimate orgasm. I’m pretty sure we broke a couple of ‘Thou Shalt Nots’ - if you know what I mean.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Ray spoke quickly, hands raised in defense, “because whether it’s in confession or not, please believe me, I’d _never_ break a confidence.” 

Andrea beamed at him. “I didn’t think so.”

She poured creamer into her mug, and two packets of sugar before she stirred, but after a sip she still grimaced. Ray didn’t blame her, the coffee here was powerful stuff and what you needed to get you through a day here at Oz, but it tasted like it came off the bottom of someone’s shoe. She looked up and focused on Ray expectantly. 

After a moment or two, Ray figured out her game. He rolled his eyes. “So? What are you so excited about?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” she said with relief. It had obviously been difficult holding out while he got the hint. 

He couldn’t help but laugh. 

Andrea hopped chairs, jumping into the one next to Ray. She got up close and whispered. “You’re looking at the new Head C. O. of Unit B.”

“Oh Andrea! That’s wonderful! Congratulations!” She could use the raise, and he was thrilled for her. She was good at what she did, and deserved the promotion. He hadn’t realized that the current H.C.O. of Unit B, Desmond Woolgar, was ready to retire, but then he didn’t know the man well. 

Andrea was back to buoyant, again. “I’m so excited I could _kiss_ you!”

His hands went up as if to protect himself, fending her off. “Well, try to restrain yourself,” he teased, “because I’ve met that mountain of a man you call a husband, and I prefer my limbs unbroken.” 

Grinning, she assured Ray, “Don’t worry Padre, your lips and limbs are safe.”

Looking at her bright, excited face, he realized it was going to be hard on her to not tell others. “How long do they expect you to keep this secret?” 

“Querns wants to make the announcements at the staff meeting next Monday.”

“Announcements?” he asked. “As in a retirement _and_ a new appointment, at the same time?”

She pulled her brown lunch bag over, and opened it up, pulling out a sandwich. “He doesn’t want to give any time for arguments. If the announcement is after the fact, and already finalized, there will be no chance for arguments and backbiting.”

“But also no chance for others to put their names up for the position,” Ray pointed out. 

“Yeah, I know. But they should be used to that by now, that’s the way Querns has worked since he got here, right?”

That was true. The Warden didn’t like having his decisions challenged. “This is a big step. He’s taking some chances putting a black woman in charge of Unit B. You know this not going to go over well in certain circles.”

“Yeah, I know. The good old boy network will have a fit over a woman taking over the job. But it’s time for a change. Besides, there is some precedence, what with Dianne Wittlesley working Em City in the late nineties.”

“Oh. I didn’t think about that.” Ray felt his stomach tying up in knots with concern for her. This would be a challenge for Andrea. “I was thinking more in terms of all the Aryans in Unit B. They’re misogynistic as well as racist. They’re not going to like the fact that you’re making the decisions, now.” 

She laughed. “I do that already. They _will_ get over it. Those old Nazi assholes will have to take it on the chin and deal. No, it’s my fellow C.O.s that will cause me the most trouble.”

“Yes. They’re likely to argue that Dianne had it easy, working in Em City. Most of the C.O.s that don’t work there consider it the gilded cage of Oz. There are no bars, the inmates can wear street clothes, the spaces they live in are larger and freer, they have access to computers, and freer access to TVs, and phones.”

“Yeah, but Em City had a riot in ’97, there have been numerous stabbings, and how many guns have been smuggled into that particular gilded cage?” She nodded at his reluctant agreement. “The assault, rape, and murder statistics in Em City are as high as those of the rest of the prison. Em City may be all shiny on the outside, but a cage is still a cage, no matter how pretty the gilding.”

She shook her head. “They can’t use that against me, it won’t wash. I’m qualified, I’m good at my job, and both the Unit Administrator _and_ the retiring Head C.O. told the Warden I was the right person for the job. So fuck ‘em all.” 

Ray was so proud of her confidence that he hardly noticed the cursing until she pointed it out to him. 

She squinched her eyes closed in a grimace. “Oh, sorry, Father.”

Ray shook his head, brushing it off. He’d been trying to cut back on his own cursing, but it was a hard habit to break. It was funny, though, how many people apologized to him for something he did on a regular basis. 

“I’m so glad you got the job, Andrea. You deserve it.”

The door flew open and Len Lopresti stomped into the room, followed by Claire Howell. They were mid-argument, and it didn’t take long to discover that they were fighting over who had the most boring job. Ray had to admit, neither of their positions were the least bit exciting. Howell worked in Solitary, where the inmates were locked into their cells all day. Lopresti guarded Unit J, the Protective Segregation Unit, where there was currently only one inmate, a grouchy, gray-haired, ex-sheriff who’d taken his bad temper out on a minor - to the tune of 12 years for Aggravated Assault.

“It’s too bad they took me off Death Row,” Lopresti groused, “at least there I could occasionally get laid.” He looked over at Ray with a frown, but before he could say anything, Howell jumped in with her two cents.

“At least when slutty Bellinger was there,” Claire said, frowning at the contents of her lunch box as she dropped into a chair at another table. “She’d spread her legs for anything with a cock. You know, you could still get laid, Lopresti.”

“What?” He stared at her in confusion.

“I’m just not so sure that Alvin Yood would be that good of a lay. You’re probably better off with your right hand.” She accompanied that last sentence with an explicit hand gesture that had Lopresti snorting into his coffee. 

She finally noticed Ray at the next table over, and abruptly stopped her hand’s movement. “Oh, sorry, Father.”

Ray blinked as a vision of Lopresti propositioning the ex-sheriff, flowers and chocolates in hand, managed to short out most of his brain for a brief moment. He shook his head vigorously to dispel the image.

“On that note, I think I’ll take my coffee and go. I have appointments to prepare for this afternoon.” He grabbed his files and escaped from the break room with a cheerful, “Enjoy your lunch, everyone!” 

As soon as the door closed behind him, he let his laughter out. Dear God. Andrea was right – things were changing faster every day. But even in a changing world, there were some things you could always count on, and Claire Howell’s dirty mind was obviously one of them.


End file.
